A Day at the Beach
by heartbreakerninja
Summary: 2 old friends cross but never meet. A simple trip to an old spot only in a different time. a moment of solitude to help his out look on life. but who would have thought that it would be changed by a child in his past met with a child in the present. and wouldn't you know, a smile was all it took.


**hey there heartbreakerninja here. welcome to my first ever cross over and first ever oneshot as well. i've had this on my laptop for a while just havent had a big chance to post it as well as i was a little worried about it as well. anyway let me know what you think :)**

**see ya in the next one**

**heartbreakerninja**

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It was sunset. It was also his favorite time of the day. It was the only thing that seemed to be untouched by time and hadn't changed over the generations that he had slept through. At least something hadn't changed.

Giving a sigh of sorrow, he climbed up on to the rock that jutted out over the ocean. Standing still and looking around he breathed in the salty ocean air before letting it out again. Plopping down he let one leg hang over the edge swaying absently as the wind tousled his straw colored hair. His dog tags clinking together slightly in the strong breeze as he sat slightly hunched over.

He sighed again. It had been a long day. He looked down at his blue and red gloves that he was holding in his hand sadly. He rubbed his fingers across them, still not use to the feel of the new leather. He missed his old uniform but this one was also nice so he could live with it. The uniform he had before was out of date; so Shield had given him a new one. It was newer but still had the glory stars and stripes around the middle. He thought the world wouldn't like the old fashion look but a departed friend said that the world needed a little old fashion.

The man, who was really just a boy, stopped at that thought. He didn't want to break down even out here by himself. He had mourned over to many old friends that had left him alone this year to break down again. Granted it wasn't their fault. Time stood still for no one.

Well except him it seemed he thought grimly.

A thousand memories ran through his head as he stared off into the distance. All of which he remembered with a sad expression. It was no wonder he didn't see her as she approached him.

She was a little girl that looked no older than 10 and she was watching the man intently. She stood there quietly so of course even with his heightened senses he didn't even know she was there. At first she was content to just watch him but then she spotted his dog tags and that put a big smile on her face but then she saw his gloves. They were familiar to her. She frowned in concentration before her child like mind actually put two and two together. With a big grin on her little face she blurted out before thinking.

"You're Captain America!" Startled the man whipped around to see the child, he hadn't even known snuck up on him, standing below him. He was losing his touch if a kid could sneak up on him.

The Captain didn't answer right away, slightly still in shock, as he assessed the girl. She looked about 10 and had long curly brown hair that was pulled back in a loose ponytail. She wore a red and blue checkered jumper with a white shirt underneath. He also noticed she wasn't wearing shoes; which explained how she snuck up on him so quietly in the sand.

Finally the Captain nodded.

"Yes ma'am." Captain America answered gaining an even bigger smile from the small child. "And what might your name be?"

"Erica! Erica Tyrown Phillips. Nice to meet you." The little girl answered proudly; making the Captain give a small smile.

"Well it's nice to meet you as well Erica; but tell me how did you know who I was?" The Captain asked genuinely curious.

The little girl pointed to his name tags and then to his gloves.

"Daddy was a big fan and he knew everything about you. He had all the comic books, trading cards, and action figures ever made. He said that my papa actually met you once a long time ago. Plus you look just like you do in the comic books." The little girl named Erica answered.

To say the least the Captain was stunned. He had known about the trading cards but never known about a comic book set. They must have been done after he had disappeared. But that wasn't all that had shocked him. This little girl had figured out who he was from a cartoon drawing of him. She was pretty smart to figure that out. And to put the icing on the cake apparently he had met her grandfather during the war.

He tried to remember meeting a Phillips during his time in battle. Though the war had been so long ago the memories were still as fresh as yesterday in his mind. Because, well they pretty much were yesterday for him.

To have met her grandfather he would have had to have been in one of the Special Forces groups since that's who he had worked a lot with. Then it hit him. He vaguely remembered a boy, actually younger than himself, running messages around the camp. It had been a boy they had rescued out of an airstrike area. His name had been Tyrown Jacob Phillips, and he had been the only survivor in the town hit by the airstrike. He had been 13 when they had found him. One of the Sergeants had grown a liking to the boy and had said as much. If he remembered correctly that Sergeant kept saying he was going to try and bring the boy back with him. If this child was any relation it looked like he got his wish.

Looking back to the patiently awaiting child he could see the resemblance now. Tyrown had had the same curly brown hair; though his had been a bit more unruly. They also had the same large smile. There was no mistaking it.

"Your grandfather's name wouldn't have been Tyrown Jacob Phillips would it?" He finally asked with a warm smile. This got an even more impossibly large smile out of the child before she began to vigorously nod her head.

"Ya that's him; that's my papa! That's also were I got my middle name from." Erica exclaimed happily.

"Well it's nice to meet the granddaughter of Tyrown." The captain said has he dipped his head to her in greeting.

"It's nice to meet you too Mr. Captain America." Erica said as she held her hands behind her back and swayed back in forth shyly. Her big grin still not leaving her face.

"So where are your parents at; they must be getting worried as to where you've wondered off to Erica?" Captain America asked her.

"Oh I'm not here with family I'm here with my school. We're on a field trip to see the dolphins." Erica answered.

"I see I bet that's fun." Captain America said. He must really be off his game if there was a school load of young kids here and he did know it.

"Ya but it gets lonely some times." Erica said as she looked off at the ocean. This puzzled the captain.

"How's that; aren't there any classmates to play with?" He asked her.

"Ya but they're all older than me. I'm the youngest at the school. The closest one to my age is Tomas and he's 14 years old." Erica answered the even more puzzled Captain.

"What kind of school do you go to?" He asked her.

"I go to a special school. It's a private boarding school for gifted kids." Erica said the seemingly rehearsed line. Well that explains the reason for the large age gap. It also explained how she figured out who he was from a comic book. The kid was probably a genius.

"That's pretty cool but I bet you miss your mom and dad though." He said stating the pretty obvious.

The child sadly nodded.

"Yes but its ok they're always with me in here." The little girl pointed to her heart. The Captain gave the child a knowing look but he wasn't sure just yet.

"What do your parents do for a living Erica?"

"Well mama was a firewoman and daddy was a soldier like you. He fought in the middle east after 9/11." The girl said proudly but also sadly.

The captain had been told about that day. A lot of people had lost their lives that day. He also knew what happen to this girl's parents without her saying as much just by the look in her eyes.

"They were very brave weren't they?" the 10 year old nodded before giving the captain a small proud smile. She then quietly answered his unasked question.

"Mama could have left the building already but she heard something from the floor above her and had run up to see who it was. A lady had gotten her leg stuck on the way down the stairs and had fallen down. Mama wouldn't leave her behind and helped her up after getting her leg unstuck. They almost got to the door when mama heard the building coming down. She pushed the lady forward and told her to run and not look back. Mama wasn't able to get out in time but she saved that lady's life. And daddy went over to the Middle East to bring peace. He saved his teams life when their caravan got ambushed. But in the processes he got hit by a bullet that was heading for one of his teammates." The little girl said sadly but you could tell she was very proud of her parents.

The captain watched the little girl sadly. She had lost both of her parents in the war and yet she could still smile and remember them proudly. She didn't seem angry at anyone. She was proud of her parents and upheld their memory honorably. It made him feel sheepish. Here he was mopping about the past and feeling sorry for himself about being left behind. When here this girl stood living in the present while still remembering her fallen parents with honor. He could almost kick himself. This child had more heart than he did.

The captain jumped off the rock before coming to stand in front of the child he then stooped down to her level. He then reached into his pocket to pull something out before handing it to the child.

"I want you to have this. It's a picture that was taken of the special team I was on. If you look in the middle you'll see a young boy. That there is your grandfather." He said before pointing the boy out on the faded black and white picture. The little girl studied the picture with interest before surprising the Captain by giving him a big hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll treasure it always." Erica said. The captain hesitated at first before returning the hug. They sat like that for a moment before the girl pulled away a large smile on her face.

"I know you will. Now get going I bet your teachers and classmates are getting worried about you." The captain said kindly. The little girl nodded. Then as if on cue they both heard a woman call out in the distance.

"Erica! Hey Erica where are you it's time to go!"

"Looks like you were right." Erica said with a giggle before turning and running off to the sound of the women's voice; only to turn and wave back to him. "Bye and thanks again for the picture!"

"Good bye and you're welcome. Now get going before they send out a search party." Captain America said good naturally with a laugh and a large smile. This made Erica smile as she waved one last time before disappearing behind a large pile of rocks.

With a smile now on his lips the Captain turned and went back to his motorcycle. As he road back down the road his thoughts kept returning to the little girl. He would probably never forget this encounter for the rest of his life.

*back on the beach*

Erica came around the rocks just as a woman with short white hair yelled out her name again.

"Erica…Oh there you are. Hun where were you; we were getting worried." The woman asked

"Miss Storm I met captain America! He was sitting on one of the large rocks by the water." Erica said excitedly. Storm gave her a knowing look.

"Are you sure you didn't just accidently conjure him up? Remember when you said you saw the president and it actually was your powers creating an illusion of him?" Storm asked seriously. But the child shook her head vigorously before holding out the picture.

"No it was the real Captain America; see he gave me this old picture. See it had him and my papa as a kid in it." Erica said holding up the picture for Storm to see. Storm took the picture before looking at it.

It was indeed a real picture and just as the little girl had stated there was a little boy in the middle that looked unmistakably just like her. But there was a third person in the picture that she recognized.

"Erica how about I hold on to this till we get back to the school so you don't lose it." Storm told the little girl as she nodded before heading off to go play in the waves with the other children.

Storm turned only to be startled by the same person she was about to go find.

"Darn it Logan you about gave me a heart attack. But since you're here take a look at what Erica was given." Storm said before handing the picture over to Logan to see.

Logan sniffed the picture before getting a good look at it. He had thought he had smelled a familiar sent when earlier. Looks like he was correct. Looking down at the picture he saw a lot of old war buddies. Along with the carrier of the familiar sent. So Captain America really was back. His memory was still fuzzy from that time but some of it had come back. He remembered the captain. He didn't remember much else about the missions they had gone on but he remembered more than he had before.

Logan looked back up before sniffing the air. His sent was still there but it was faint. He was already gone; figures. Storm cocked an eyebrow.

"I take it you know this Captain America and that Erica didn't conjure this one up?" Storm asked.

Logan shook his head.

"Nope not this time, that was the real deal this time. And yes I knew him way back when." He answered before handing back the picture and heading back up to the X-Jet.

Storm shook her head in the direction of Logan before calling the kids back to the jet.

Life for an X-men, even on vacation, was never without its surprises.


End file.
